Sheet and board conveyer



1, 1931. c. A. UPSON SHEET AND BOARD CONVEYER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 6, 1928 ly s o w IN VENTOR 5 Dec. 1, 1931. c. A. UPSON SHEET AND BOARD CONVEYER Filed Sept. 6. 1928 2 ShetS-Shflfl 2 INVENTQR CMriasfl 5020 BY I i 641's ATTORNEY? 25. Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a-w allboard Patented Dec. 1, I 1931 i UNITED S ATES CHARLES A. UrsoN, or LooKroiinNEw YORK, Assrenon O THE urson COMPANY,

' or Loom-osmium YORK, A conronnrron or NEW YORK PATENT OFFICE 1 j snEE'r AND osnia CONVEYER Application filed September s, 1928. Serial No. 304,346.

My present-invention relates to the manufacture and handling of sheets, boards, slabs and similar stock andparticularly to the processing ortreatment. thereof whereln, 1n ore '5 der to conserve space, the stock is conveyed back and forth in reverse directionsbetween decks or levels arranged one above theother V and it has for'its'object to provlde a SlIIlPlG,

' convenient and: efiicient' means for transferring the sheets or similar articles rapidly and safely'from one deck to. another. My, 1m:

provements are directed particularly to means whereby asheet is quickly .transferred from an'upper deck to the-devices that carry. 1 it to the lower deck so that it w ll be reversedin direction in time to vpreventsucceeding sheets from interferingwith its progress.

To these and other ends theinvention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be'hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification. V a

In the drawings:

making and processing machinein connection with which useful application of my 1nvention may be made the view being a fragmentary one of the front end of the machine;

30. Fig. 2 is a-similar fragmentary view .of the intermediate portion of the machinep Fig. 3 is a similar fragmentaryview. of the delivery end of the machine; V. i

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary long-14 tudinal section through a portion of the dry ing oven of the machine shown in elevation in Fig. 3, the same being fittedwith a::GOI1- veyer and transfer means constructed in accordance with and illustrating oneembodiment of my invention; 5

Fig. 5 isan enlarged detailed transverse section takenon the line5-5of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged-fragmentary section through certain driving mechanism taken on the line 6+6 of Fig. 4; and

.Fig. .7 is a similar enlarged'detail taken cut into separatesheets by a suitable severing several views indicate the sameparts.

- entire machine as thus far described by these My present improvement may be utilized to advantage in connection with a machine for the manufacture of sheets or slabs such as that disclosed in my pending application for pat;

, ent, filed January 12, 1928, Serial No. 246,345,

and I have illustrated in F igs. 1-, 2 and?) so much-of thatmachine as-will be useful in understanding the purpose and efiect. of the present improvements; First referring briefly to these figures, it is to be understood, as above explained that they collectively'show, the .Whole machine when placed'jend to end in g the order named. I

. This particular machine is designed toproduce as a continuous operation a continuous ly formed sheet or strip of wallboard such as is used-"as a building material the outer faces thereof consistingof two paperliners enclosing between them a considerable body of mineral material. Itis of no great concern herein as .to what this material is beyond say-' ing thatait is a plastic mass which is fed between the liners while they are continuously moving. The liners referred to may be 7 drawn'from suitable supply rolls 1 and-2 and receive [the plastic material between them from a hopper 3 as'they pass around betweenrollers 4 arranged beneath the hopper. From these rollers the sheet is subjected to heat and pressure by passing through a long bed and between upper and lower heat-ed platens 6 and 7. Emergingfrom the rear end of this platen section'8 the strip is trimmed and slit at 9 and'10 andthence passes into-a hardening oven 11 where it is partially dried and hardened or set sufficiently to pass betweena set of drawing or feed rolls 12 which would! otherwise injure it and which are located nearthe rear end of this hardening oven. The entire strip is drawn through the drawing-rolls and pushed bythe latter upon what we will term the upper deck 13 of a long drying oven 14 that extends back'beneath the hardeningoven 11 and part of the platen bed 5- as shown. On this upper .deck 13 which is conventionally shown in Fig. 31the'strip is device l 5and from thence travels in the man 7 nerherelnafter described as successlve .separate sheets. 10c

transferred to a bottom deck 17' to again traverse the oven rearwardly to its full length whereafter it issues as a finished product at the rear end of the machine. The two transfer points that are required for the shifting of the stock successively downward are indi cated generally at A and B in the general views, whereas the delivery point at which it emerges as a finished product is indicated at C. The presentinvention, as before indicated, has to do with these transfer mechanisms and as they may be of the same construction at both of the points A and B they are shown in-detail only at A as a description of one will sufiice for both.

In Fig. l a sheet or a length of wallboard stock is shown on the upper deck 13 at D about to be delivered to transfer mechanism. This deck and the two lower decks 16 and 17 are composed in the present instance of a plu-. rality of spaced parallel rolls 18 all driven in unison in the respective directions shown by the arrows at what we will call oven speed. The driving gear consists of sprockets 19 on the ends of the rolls with which mesh sprocket chains 20 driven from a suitable source of power. The upper or feeding deck 13 terminates in an inclined transfer elementindicated generally at 21, which element also comprises a plurality of rollers 22 provided with sprockets 23 and driven by sprocket chains 24: suitably geared to turn these rolls at oven speed also. The element 21 is'inclined downwardly and rearwardly in the direction of the transfer element 25 that is inclined downwardly and forwardly and passes under the rear or lower end of the element 21 and leads to the lower deck 16. as a continuation thereof. 1

The conveying rolls of that portion of the transfer element 25 which extends beneath and beyond the lower end of thetransfer element 21 from'the point a forwardly area continuation of the rolls of the deck 16 and .are driven therefrom at the same or oven speed. The rolls 26 on either side of theintersection of the lower end of the upper transfer element 21 with the element 25 are driven independently through sprockets 27 and sprocket chains 28 at greater speed than all of theother rolls or at greater than oven speed for which purpose a larger sprocket 29 is fixed to the shaft of one of the deck rolls and drives one of the group of rolls 26 through a sprocket chain 30 and a small sprocket'Sl on the shaft of that last mentioned roll. The purpose of this is as follows:

lVith all of the conveyer rolls moving in the directions indicated by the arrows, with the exception of the independently driven group 26 on the transfer element 25, the board or work sheet 1)" passes from the deck 13 down the inclined transfer element 21 and is shoved out rearwardly to its full length on to the transfer roller 26 of the element 25. In doing so it momentarily avoids the group of rollers 26 which are rotating at greater speed in a reverse direction and contacts and rides upon a group of idler rollers 32 at the far upper end of the transfer element 25, which rollershave-intervening guide plates or deflectors 33 to prevent the board at its advancing edge from becoming locked against or beneath them. lVhen the board has fully left the driven rolls of the upper transfer element 21 it falls upon the fast reversing rolls '26- of the lower-transfer 25, as's'hown in Fig. 4-,.jointly with the idle rolls, so that the board is quickly reversed and hurried down the'incline of the lower transfer to the lower deck 16 next'below before the succeeding sheet orboard travelling at the slower rate has had time to fall upon it. In other words, an advance sheet falls upon and is carried out of the way by the lower-transfer element in a reverse direction beneath the succeeding sheet whereupon it assumes, a rate of travel the same as the following sheets that arebeing fed from the making machine and the sheets ahead that have been lreversed again by the similar mechanisms at B and are travelling through the oven toward the delivery point C. The working of the machine is thus made as rapid as possible and the sheets are so close together that the full capacity of the drying oven is utilized.

I prefer to provide one or more floating rolls 84 in conjunction with the rolls 22 at the lower end of the incline or transfer element 21. The purpose of these rolls isto insure a frictional contact of the board with the driving rolls sufficient to positively project it out upon and up the incline of the transfer ele ment- 25.

- All of the rolls and their mountings and driving gear are-constructed substantially as shown in Fig. 5.

I claim as my. invention: r

1. Ina sheet processing machine for the continuous running of severed sheets of wallboard and similar stock, the combination with a conveyer comprising upper and lower superposed and substantially co-eXtensive decks for carrying the stock in reverse directions, said decks each comprising a plurality of driven rolls, of upper and lower transfers communicating with the respective decks and inclined in opposite directions toward a common point, the lower-transfer eX- tending beyond and beneaththe delivery end a sheet delivered thereto from the uppertransfer, driven rolls on the lower transfer arranged between the said idlerolls and the delivery end of the upper transfer, and gearing between the rolls of one of the decks and the said driven rolls of the lower transfer for driving the latter at a greater speed than the deck rolls.

2. In a sheet processing machine for the continuous running of severed sheets of wallboard and similar stock, the combination with a conveyer comprising upper and lower superposed and substantially co-eXtensive decks for carrying the stock in reverse directions, said decks each comprisinga plurality of driven rolls, of upper and lower transfers communicating with the respective decks and inclined in opposite directions toward'a' common point, the lower transfer'extending beyond and beneath the deliveryend of the upper transfer, driven rolls on the lower transfer arranged beneath the delivery end of the upper transfer, and gearmg between the rolls of one of the decks and the said driven rolls of the lower transfer fordriving the latter at a greater speed than the deck rolls. p

In a sheet processing machine for the continuous running of severed sheets of wallboard and similar stock, the combination with a conveyer comprising upper andlower superposed and substantially co-extensive.

decks for carrying the stock in reverse directions, said decks each comprising a plurality of driven rolls, ofupper and lower transfers communicating with the respective decks and inclined in opposite directions toward a common point, the lower transfer extending beyond and beneath the delivery end of the upper transfer, driven rolls on the lower transfer arranged beneath the delivery end of the upper transfer, means for operating said last named driven rolls at a greaterspeed than the rolls of the decks, and a floating roll coopere ating with said driven rolls of greater speed to increase the force of their contact with] the stock sheet. 4

l. 'l he combination with an upper trans ,fer for carrying material in one direction to a delivery end, of a lower transfer extending beyond and beneath the delivery end of the upper transfer for receiving material therefrom and carrying it is a reverse direc i first named plurality of rolls and in a direction to carrymaterial drop-ping onto said last named plurality of rolls rapidly toward said first named plurality of rolls, and a plurality of idle rolls beyond said last named plurality of rolls for receiving the advancing end of material delivered to said lower transfer by said upper transfer.

5. The combination with an upper transfer for carrying material in one direction to a delivery end, of a-lower transfer extending beyond and beneath the delivery end of the upper transfer for receiving material therefrom and carrying it in a reverse direction, said lower transfer comprising a plurality of material conveying rolls beneath said upper transfer driven at one speed, a wheel of relatively large diameter connected to one of said driven rolls, a plurality of rolls beyond the delivery end of the upper transfer so that material delivered thereby-may fall on such 8 rolls, means for connecting all of said last namedplurality of rolls to rotate together, a wheel of relatively small diameter connected to one of said last named plurality of rolls, and endless connecting means running over said wheel of relatively large diameter and saidwheel of relatively small diameter to drive the latter from the former'so that said last named plurality of rolls are driven at a, 1 speed greater than that of said first named plurality of rolls and in a direction to carry material dropping onto said last named plurality of rolls rapidly towardlsaid first named plurality of rolls.

' CHARLES A. UPSON. 

